Meteorologist Kristy Steward's First Warning Forecast
Happy Friday! We were dry with more sunshine today, but it was still cool. High temperatures reached the mid 50s. Heading into tonight, cloud cover will increase and northeasterly winds will continue to pick up ahead of an approaching coastal low. Overnight low temperatures will be slightly warmer than last night in the mid 40s coastally and mid to upper 30s inland.
As that low pressure system rides along the coast, it will bring us scattered rain showers primarily Saturday late afternoon throughout Sunday. The Outer Banks will start to see rain a little earlier, possibly as soon as Saturday morning. Expect heavy downpours at times and strong gusty winds. It looks like the Peninsulas/Eastern Shore won't get much rain if any, but the Outer Banks could see upwards of 4", if the low tracks close to the coast. If it shifts a bit farther east, rain totals will be much less. Either way, high winds are a certainty. The Outer Banks will get the highest winds.
High Wind Warning 2 PM Saturday - 11 PM Sunday for the Outer Banks. 35-45 MPH winds gusting up to 60 MPH. Wind Advisory 2 PM Saturday - 11 PM Sunday for inland Dare County. 25-35 MPH winds gusting up to 50 MPH. Elsewhere, 20-30 MPH sustained winds expected. Those strong gusty northeast winds throughout this weekend will bring us all a good amount of tidal flooding. Expect minor to moderate tidal flooding during high tides Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. They will also bring us 7-9 foot breaking waves, leading to ocean overwash and beach erosion.
Heading into next week, the coastal low will be to our north, winds will start to quiet down, and we'll go under the influence of high pressure over the southeast. That high will dry us out and bring back plenty of sunshine the first half of the week. It will also warm temperatures back up to the mid 60s Monday, upper 60s Tuesday and even low 70s for the second half of the workweek. Toward the end of the workweek, a strong low pressure system and its associated cold front slowly start to approach from the west. We look to stay mostly dry through the workweek, just a bit more cloud cover in the sky Thursday and Friday.
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